Nasher Museum makes its first purchase

Duke University's Nasher Museum of Art has just made its first purchase since the museum opened in October, a sculpture by New York-based artist Petah Coyne. "Untitled #1111 (Little Ed's Daughter Margaret)"is an assemblage of tree branches, feathers, ribbon, thread and tassels, along with remnants of a couture gown and hundreds of silk flowers dipped in blue wax. Underneath, a fiberglass cast statue includes a mechanism that causes its eyes to tear up twice a day at unpredictable times.

The piece is currently on display in Helsinki; it will come to the Nasher this fall. Meanwhile, viewers can see a similar work by Coyne, "Untitled #1165 (Paris Blue)"at the Nasher's The Forest: Politics, Poetics and Practice exhibition, which runs through Jan. 29.

Designbox organizing fall conference
A collective of artists, designers and architects is organizing the Triangle Creative Conference, to take place in September. Designbox, a downtown Raleigh-based group that won an Indies Arts Award last year, is putting together a weekend of charrettes, music and art to explore ideas put forward in Richard Florida's book The Rise of the Creative Class, which rates the Triangle as one of the nation's top five creative centers.

The conference will publish the results of each charrette. "Our intent is to create a guide to support our environment and to continue growing the Triangle area as the creative hub of the South," Designbox founder Aly Khalifa said in a press release.

The group is looking for help with both the schedule and the funds--anyone with space, cash or other forms of sponsorship should write to tcc@designbox.us.